Overtime expenses lead to request of funds for fire department

UPPER DARBY — The township’s chief administrative officer gave a detailed account of the need to transfer $315,000 from the fund balance to the fire department budget to cover unexpected overtime expenses at a recent council meeting.

Thomas Judge explained the extra overtime hours were accrued to cover firefighters attending the mandated Philadelphia Fire Academy and firefighters out of service due to injuries, sick time and vacations.

According to Judge, the overtime budget for 2014 was $600,000.

“From January to June we used $434,738,” Judge said. “We have $165,260 remaining. Assuming the overtime budget of $60,000 per month at six months, we need $360,000. We are $315,000 short. Currently we have five firefighters on IOD (Injured On Duty) status including the department chief. Keep in mind any money left at the end of the year will go back into the fund balance.”

Advertisement

Judge announced there are 55 firefighters on the payroll that includes the fire chief and four, soon-to-be five, deputy chiefs, by contract agreement, with a total budget of $9.1 million in 2013 and $9.9 million for 2014.

The overtime hours accumulate through manpower covering other firefighters out of service in attendance at the fire academy, IOD, sick leave and vacation time totaled 9,240 hours compared to last year’s 6,240 hours.

“The reason is we had a larger number of (new) firefighters go to the academy this time is they didn’t have one,” Judge said. “We had already hired five firefighters and they had to go to the Philadelphia Fire Academy per contractual agreement. We have a combination fire department (volunteer and paid). We must send all firefighters to the academy because firefighters must meet qualifications.”

Judge has hopes two of the five firefighters out on IOD will be back soon but could not guarantee when.

“There probably is some excess in overtime,” Judge said. “Firefighters are constantly going to training classes. Is it out of line here? Absolutely not.”

Council President Donald Bonnett announced the need for the transfer did not affect the overall budget.

“A budget is an educational guess,” Bonnett said. “I hope you over estimated. (To transfer funds) is not uncommon. It’s why we have a fund balance or contingency fund.”

Councilwoman Sekela Coles, D-7th District, asked if reports by the administration could be presented earlier for review.

“This is a multi-phase process,” Bonnett said. “We are not acting on it tonight.”

Council will vote on the transfer after a public hearing at the 7:30 p.m. July 19 board meeting.

“You get a finance report every month,” Mayor Thomas Micozzie said to Coles. “You could see we had a problem. We will still have a public hearing on it. Everything takes about three months. We’re a busy fire department. We run 12,000 fires a year.”